Stargazer
by AntaresPromise
Summary: Yuuri loved his job as a guide narrating legends of the stars from the mountaintop. One day, someone from his stories tapped him on the shoulder.


"That's Sirius, the brightest star in the sky," Yuuri's green laser pointer encircled the infinite velvet blue for the small gathering behind him.

Despite the hours and bone chilling mountaintop, he couldn't imagine working anywhere else.

"Here's Orion and the Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters," none could miss the constellation of the Archer with his bow taut chasing a cluster of stars. "In Greek mythology, to evade the amorous advances of Orion, Zeus transformed the sisters into a flock of doves. Orion will follow them across the sky forever but never catch up in his amorous pursuit."

"There is another legend of the same stars I found in an old book, good thing moths ate around the important lines," his palms clammy. "You are the first to hear it, to be honest, I am a little nervous," Yuuri chuckled.

Murmurs of encouragement rippled through the crowd.

"This is the tale of the Archer and the Demon Child," crisp night air expanded his lungs. Truthfully, he didn't need the ancient fragile pages to know this story by heart. Because etched inside his eyelids, in the place between wakefulness and dreams, he lived through it every night.

* * *

They called him Demon Child, Calamity's son, or Harbinger of Misfortune.

Kids threw pebbles at him.

He dwelled in a dilapidated hut by the lake every villager feared. Because beneath its pristine crystalline surface, a hundred-year-old serpent reared her head every few sunrises. The same 'monster' raised him in a cradle of seagrass after she found him in a basket, pink and crying.

He was the boy loved by demons.

They flocked to him bearing gifts: shells, rare sweet-fruits that could fetch a fortune, and diamonds in the rough.

By comparing to the other young men, he should be no more than twenty.

A warm nose nuzzled his hand, "you didn't have to bring me dinner," he patted the head of the three-eyed fox demon as she dropped a rabbit at his feet, "run along, I heard the hunters and their hounds."

She vanished into the dark forest with specks of fireflies like fallen stars.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, despite not a single cloud overhead. He hiked through a trail flanked by aspen trees to the mountaintop. Soft wind of the spring lifted his messy dark locks.

The Demon Child gasped as a silver haired figure, with bow and arrows fastened to his back, stepped closer to the edge of the cliff.

The night forest blurred as he darted towards the Archer, "you weren't going to jump, right?" his grasp tightened around the stranger's wrist.

The Archer hesitated. He shook his head, twilight-coloured hair fastened by a white ribbon spilled over over his shoulder.

"I'm glad," the Demon Child let go, his cheeks burning, "sorry, I thought -"

"It's alright," the Archer flashed a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "if I did jump I would never see stars like this again." He lifted his head, the Milky Way bright against the blue infinity.

"Beautiful aren't they?" the Demon Child tilted his chin up, mesmerized.

"Like nowhere else on earth."

Time dissolved into irrelevance.

"What brought you here?" the Demon Child's voice soft.

"Father sent me to investigate the murders near this village. He is the Grand Mage of this Kingdom," he answered the Demon Child's inquisitive gaze transfixed upon his grey travelling cloak woven with fine silver threads. "We found it peculiar this village escaped every disaster the surrounding area succumbed to."

The Demon child's vermillion eyes fell.

Since the beginning of spring, burnt bodies of sheep started turning up at the outskirts, followed by humans in the same grotesque manner.

"Do you know what killed them?"

"The peasants think I did it," the Demon Child pressed his lips together, as the three eyed fox returned, baring her teeth for a second at the stranger.

"Why?" The Archer stepped closer.

The Demon Child scratched the fox's chin, "I'll show you."

The forest shuddered.

Fluttering of wings of bats with haunting crimson irises congregated. Footsteps vibrated through earth as a mountain troll sprinted towards the clearing. A snake climbed up the Demon Child's leg and perched around his neck, tasting the air with forked tongue then blinked.

Snakes shouldn't blink. The Archer held his breath.

The Demon Child suppressed a smile watching his reaction. He whispered a word to the creatures of the night in the language of the Demons, "I told them you are a friend."

The three eyed fox sniffed the Archer's robes and sat in between them.

"You have been guarding this village all along haven't you?"

The Demon Child's lips parted, warmth spread through the pit of his stomach. Nobody ever believed him before. He nodded gravely, "the culprits are growing stronger, I'm afraid soon there won't be a village left."

"Who did it?"

"They call themselves Fire Angels," he pointed towards the east where mountain ranges rose above the clouds, "They spoke through the village elders to make demands in exchange for protection from, well, the likes of me. Meet me here at dawn, if you want to see for yourself."

"See you at dawn," the Archer echoed.

"Why do you believe me?" The Demon Child bit his lip.

"Because you wouldn't have pulled me from the edge of the cliff when you thought I was going to jump," wisps of silver hair hid his bright blue-green eyes, he sighed, "my father is the most powerful Mage and the King's right hand man, yet I never showed any hint of power. I thought, if my life was in danger, perhaps my magic would manifest — "

"Promise me you won't," with lighting reflex the Demon Child gripped the Archer's robes again.

"I promise."

Before the Demon Child reached the bottom of the mountain, he froze. A whistling sound followed by white hot pain pierced through his left shoulder, his vision blurred as he realized he hadn't been shot by an ordinary arrow.

The Archer waited at dawn, but the Demon Child never returned. From the corner of his eyes he caught glimpses of Angels with wings of fire swooping from the sky toward a lone terrified sheep lost from its flock.

* * *

The Demon Child woke up to ropes biting into his wrists, his shoulder throbbed and caked with warm blood. The entire village gathered around him. Grease splashed onto his callused feet resting on hay.

"Burn him," the villagers hissed.

"About time," the Elder with crooked teeth and wisps of his salt and pepper beard limped before the crowd.

The nearest child threw a rock at his forehead. He shut his empty eyes. None of the pain or humiliation mattered. The possibility of the Archer's betrayal ripped him in one thousand pieces.

Clouds gathered overhead, killing the piercing morning rays. Peasants whimpered as if anticipating impending doom.

"Get on with it," a woman spat at the Demon Child's feet.

The distant forest rustled followed by unearthly shrieks.

The Elder lit a torch, his thumping, uneven footsteps resembled heartbeats of a man holding onto life by a thread.

Creatures large and small gathered around the young man tied to the stake like a cluster of stars. The three eyed fox snarled.

Mountain goblins clad in tattered leather scurried from the forest with pockets filled with rocks.

Smaller demons gnawed on the twine binding his hands and feet.

"It's your fault, you should have shot him in the heart," someone screamed at the Elder.

The Demon Child's eyes snapped open with the realization the Archer never betrayed him. Life returned to him, as first rainfall of spring.

Deafening thunder rumbled, as glowing silver arrow struck the Elder's torch, knocking it from his hand.

"Stop," hair like twilight, ocean eyes, "in the name of the Grand Mage," the Archer's bow taut, his second arrow laced with lightning as if the brightest star had fallen.

"Please, oh great Mage, execute the Demon Child for us," the Elder sunk to one knee squinting as a hint for the rest to copy him.

The Archer resisted every temptation to aim for the old man instead, "leave him to me, I will punish him if he is indeed guilty." He lowered his arrow and hastened his steps towards the stake.

Through half closed eyelids and laboured breaths, the Demon Child murmured, "thanks." His fox chewed through the final piece of rope. Still paralyzed because of the poisonous arrow, he slid down the wooden post, the splinters dug into his skin through the holes of his robe.

Unfazed from the demons surrounding them, amidst feathers and claws, the Archer carried him. He whispered a single word in the ancient language resembling a gentle brook.

The goblins dropped their rocks, the serpents slithered through the grass, and the three eyed fox growled at the trembling village Elder one last time before she vanished into the forest.

Against the Archer's warm and solid chest, darkness claimed him. From his lips, a hint of a smile.

* * *

He woke up by the bonfire to the sizzling sounds of a rabbit roasting. His stomach rumbled.

A gentle hand brushed his forehead, "good, your fever is gone," the Archer's voice soft, "don't move, I just dressed your wounds."

The Demon Child's face burnt, as he realized his head rested on the Archer's leg. He wetted his cracked lips.

"Here," the Archer read his mind as he lifted the water flask.

"You found your powers," the Demon Child smiled as the Archer wiped the trickle of water that escaped the corner of his lip, "I'm glad." With one arm he propped himself up, "I wonder what summoned me to the top of the mountains that night. I had never felt such vast amount of raw magic scattered before. It was you."

The Archer draped the cloak woven with fine embroidery around him with a pensive expression.

"Have you ever noticed it's not because it rains you are sad but when you are sad you make it rain?"

Silence.

"I noticed that since I was a child, but nobody believed me," The Archer's eyes widened, "I never knew how to connect with my powers, until I saw you tied there, with an arrow in your back. I was afraid that you thought I betrayed you," the Archer wrapped a protective arm around him, "I have never been more afraid in my life."

The Demon Child rested his head against his shoulder, a mischievous smile hung from his lips, "there's something else you should know about me," his right hand slipped into the flicking tongues of flames of the bonfire as the Archer gasped, "I didn't earn my nicknames for no reason." Fire didn't touch him.

The Archer pulled him close again, "how many more surprises do you have for me?"

The Demon Child grinned, wishing time would stop."I am leaving this place, but before that will you help me stop the Fire Angels?"

"For you, anything, but why do you still fight for the villagers?" the Archer never seen such beautiful crimson eyes untainted by hatred.

"Because I am everything they have."

"I am dying to teach them a lesson for you," white hot anger coursed through the Archer as lightning bolts.

The Demon Child shook his head, "like my friends from the forest, fighting to live every day, the villagers are no different."

* * *

Seven days later, the Demon Child smirked as he led the Archer to the lake's edge, "You ready to meet my mother?"

The Archer raised a silver eyebrow.

Water rippled as a majestic serpent rose from the turquoise calmness. Her head lowered, her golden eyes with slits for pupils narrowed at the sight of the Archer, who froze for half a second.

The Demon Child kissed her forehead, "he's a friend." Then he spoke in the ancient language of the Demons that the Archer couldn't comprehend, and bursted out in laughter, "she said you smell a tad better than those stupid ignorant villagers.

"Tell her thanks?" The Archer rubbed his neck.

The serpent roared, sending shockwaves through the aspen leaves.

A violet shadow descended upon them. A phoenix with sunset plumage landed before the Demon Child and bowed. He leapt onto her back and stretched out his hand for the Archer.

"You never cease to surprise me," the Archer took his hand, amused.

"Let's end this," the Demon Child's face determined, as they soared beyond the the forest and into the clouds.

* * *

They found the Fire Angels on top of the snow covered peaks, tossing white bones down the edge.

"You think you can shoot from here?" wind whipped his dark locks onto his face.

"I can aim from three times this distance," The Archer flashed the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

The Demon Child spoke to the phoenix, every syllable undulating like waves of the ocean and wind through the grass.

Together they held their breath as lighting erupted from the Archer's hand and the arrow soared in the thin air.

With a raucous cry, the Fire Angel, along with its half eaten prey plummeted towards the earth.

The Demon Child wrapped his arms around the Archer from behind, "I don't know how to thank you."

"Hey, we are going to fall off!"

"Do you trust me?" The Demon Child turned to face him, interlaced his fingers and squeezed, his smile fearless and free.

"I don't know," the Archer teased him, silver locks flying.

"Close your eyes, trust me."

They slid from the back of the phoenix.

When they landed, the Archer found himself in the arms of the most beautiful creature he had ever seen, with pointed ears, vermillion eyes, and dark leathery wings from his back, "with you, I never know what to expect anymore."

The Demon Child laughed, "you'll get used to it."

* * *

The Demon Child pouted as he packed his few possessions into a sack made by the goblins, "why would you come with me? You know my other names:'Harbinger of Misfortune', 'Calamity's child', they say I eat babies and everything I touch dies -"

The Archer pulled him by front of his tattered black robes.

Silver eyelashes brushed against his cheeks.

The Archer kissed him like midsummer's rain.

With trembling hands, the Demon Child curled his fingers around the Mage's cloak woven with silver threads, pulling it taut, his blood buzzing and whirring with happiness.

The Archer answered without words.

* * *

"Together they left the village," Yuuri finished the story, "when they returned to stardust, a new constellation appeared in the sky. The Archer drawing his bow, ready to set the the Demon Child free. Unbeknownst to him, loved by the creatures of the forest and mountain, the Demon Child didn't need saving."

Silence.

The crowd applauded in unison.

Yuuri smiled.

He lingered as the tourists bid farewell.

Then someone tapped him on the shoulder, "I'm sorry, I know my orientation for this job starts tomorrow, I heard so much about you and I couldn't help but come out here tonight to hear your stories," The same voice Yuuri always dreamt of begun, "they surpassed my wildest imaginations."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," time slow down as Yuuri turned.

Silver hair, ocean eyes, a face that could stop wars.

 _It's you._

Yuuri's vision hot and blurry for second, he shut his eyes, tilted his chin to the night sky. "Beautiful, aren't they?" He flashed a private smile, brave, untainted, and free.

"Like nowhere else on earth," the Archer's voice answered, "my name is Victor." His hand warm, his grip firm.

"Yuuri," he didn't want to let go. He settled on top of the picnic table as a shooting star glided across the sky, "I am going to stay out here for a bit, feel free to stay."

"This is going to sound strange," Victor joined him. _I've always had a dream. In it you had wings and crimson eyes, they called you Demon Child, but you had the kindest soul. You saved my life, then I thought I saved yours, but you turn out to be strong enough on your own._

"Have we met before?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

I wrote this for a zine application. I wasn't selected (not surprised because there are so many talented writers out there, and I have much to improve as a writer).

This is a companion piece to Demons Song, posted almost exactly a year ago. If you've read it, I hope you'll find my writing have improved ever since. I am grateful for the opportunity to push myself to created the best 3000 words possible and to share it with you.

I will keep on writing, that's the only way to get better, right?

Special thanks to CreativeSweets (on AO3) for being my wonderful beta for this story.

Much love,

-Antares


End file.
